Contemporary study - Sebastian and Hernandez gill Flashcards
aim - P1, A01
the aim of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gill’s study was to investigate the development of the phonological loop component if the working memory model
they aimed to do this by using verbal digit span as their measure of loop capacity
they wanted to confirm the finding of their studies with Anglo-Saxon participants that digit span increases with age then levels off at 15 years
they also wanted to compared Spanish school children with Anglo-Saxon elderly adults and people with dementia tested in an earlier study
sample - P1, A01
575 school children from pre-school primary and secondary schools in Madrid
all participants were born in Spain and were selected from all 13 years of the Spanish education system
participants varied in age from 5-17 years old
the comparison group with dementia had 9 participants
Weakness of sample - P1, A03
one weakness of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gill’s study was that one of the samples used in the comparison study was small
there were only 9 participants with frontal variant frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD)
small sample sizes have an impact on the findings of the study because they reduce the power of statistical tests
this makes type 1 errors more likely, in which a statistically significant result is found when none really exists
so the findings relating to this dementia group may only have arisen because the sample was so small - they might no be real effects
therefore, the study may not have enough statistical power to reject the null hypothesis, making the conclusions regarding the phonological loop in old age questionable
procedure - P2, A01
the study was a field experiment conducted in schools
the independent variable was the year of schooling
the dependant variable was mean verbal digit span
the materials used consisted of sequences of random digits that gradually increased by one in length each time
the sequence of digits were read aloud to each participant
the task began with three sequences of three digits and then three sequences of four digits etc.
the participants listened to each sequence of digits and then were asked to repeat them in order
each child completed a practice sequences at the start
digit span was defined as they longest sequences the child could recall, two times out of the three presented, in order and without error
strength of procedure - P2, A03
one strength of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gills study was that the researchers used several standardised procedures
for example, the digits were read aloud at a constant rate of one per second for every participant
these procedures ensured that the experience of the study did not vary greatly from one participant to another
this means that the outcomes could not be attributed to differences in how the procedure was conducted
therefore, the use of standardised procedures helped to control potentially confounding variables and therefore contributed to a reasonable degree of internal validity meaning that the results were solely based on the digit spans which could be recalled and not any other confounding variables which may have interfered with the results found that digit span increases with age
COUNTER ARGUMENT TO strength of procedure - P2, A03
However, the procedure lacked control in some areas
for instance, the researchers report that the children ‘did not present … impairments..’
this means that the children were not directly tested, and the research relied upon the children or their parents to divulge any hearing, reading or other cognitive impairments
given that any such impairments could influence performance on the digit span task, this may have seriously undermined the validity of the study
findings - P3, A01
the results showed a clear increase in digit span with age
the youngest age group (5 years) had a significantly lower average digit span (mean = 3.76) than the other age groups
digit span increased significantly and smoothly up to 11 years (mean = 5.28)
the rate o increase then slowed and stabilised up to 17 years (mean = 5.91)
the researchers compared these findings to data from the earlier study with Anglo-Saxon elderly participants
digit span in a group of healthy elderly people was significantly higher than 5 and 6 year old children but no different from that of older children
the pattern of findings for a group of people with dementia was similar to the healthy elderly people
in contrast, the previously studied group of nine patients with frontal variant frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD), mean digit span was not significantly different from that of the 5 and 6 year old children
conclusions - P3, A01
it can be concluded from this study that digit span increases with age up to adolescence
however, in Spanish children the increase continues until at least 17 years whereas in English children it levels out at around 15 as seen in research from Gathercole and Alloway in 2008
the researchers explained these differences in terms of the word length effect because it takes more time to rehearse longer words, more information is likely to be lost
the word length affect applies in this case because Spanish words for digits are longer than their English equivalents
most Spanish digit words are two syllables where as most English ones are one syllable
furthermore, the word length affect occurs because we rehearse words sub vocally but we do not begin to do this until about 7 years old
this means that there should be no difference in digit span between Spanish and English children younger than 7
the results of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gill’s study and other studies such as Engle and Marshall in 1983 confirm this
the comparison of dementia groups, healthy elderly people and schoolchildren suggests that the capacity of the phonological loop component in working memory is affected more by age than dementia
strength, application of findings - P4, A03
one strength of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gills study is that it can be applied to help understand cognitive abilities
although recalling sequences of digits may not be how we use working memory in real life, digit span has been applied to understanding specific cognitive abilities
for instance, people with a longer digit span are also better readers and have higher general intelligence
conversely, short digit span is associated with specific learning disorders such as dyslexia
therefore, digit span can be used to explain people’s crucial real-life cognitive skills
